


Observatory

by shimcko



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Homesickness, Langst, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 13:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12109950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shimcko/pseuds/shimcko
Summary: Lance goes somewhere every night when he believes the rest of the paladins are asleep.Keith, one night, decides he wants to tag along.





	Observatory

The observatory in Princess Allura's castle went unused, for the most part. 

One boy would always come and go whenever the rest of the paladins had turned for the day to rest for the next, walking in with his head down and hands in his pockets. He'd leave with red, swollen eyes and a face glistening with tracks of tears. 

Whenever Keith would pass this boy, whenever he'd try to stop him and ask what had been causing him so much pain, he'd only get the same answer- the same five words each and every time.

"I just miss my family." 

Keith knew what it was like to miss a family, but the feeling that Lance knew was so foreign to him. Keith missed a family he didn't get enough time to know. 

The last year he'd spent on Earth was in complete solitude, with the exception of his best friend, loneliness. He could reminisce about memories of a father, but had no recollection of a mother; and knowing that she had devoted herself to the enemy that his sole purpose as a paladin was to eliminate – it tore him apart in ways no one aboard that ship could ever begin to comprehend.

But, Lance wanted to wake up on his birthday to ten smiling faces.  
He wanted to read his niece and nephew fairy-tales to help them fall asleep.  
He'd never forget to add in silly, whimsical voices for each character. The daring knight was always his favorite.  
He wanted to stay up late with his brothers and sisters, to watch horror movies that would prevent him from sleeping a wink.

Keith couldn't understand any of that.  
But, he wanted to help anyway.

Keith lies awake that night, waiting for the familiar sound of Lance's door to open and the scraping of his slippers against the smooth floor. When he gets the green light he's been holding out for, Keith rises to his feet, and exits his room, finding Lance in the hallway.

"Lance?" Keith calls to his friend softly, carefully, as if raising his voice above a whisper would wake the others. He stands awkwardly in place, hands fidgeting restlessly at his sides until the blue paladin turns around, a far off look in eyes as deep as the sea. 

"Keith? Why are you awake, man?" Lance queries in reply, sliding his hands into the pockets of his robe. 

"I was wondering," Keith's gaze averts, falling to the ground until he can summon the strength he needs.

"If you wanted some company tonight. You're going to the observatory, aren't you?"

Lance's eyebrows raise, as if it startled him to know that Keith was already aware what he snuck out to do most nights. At this point, Keith was certain everyone did, too. 

The seconds that pass feel like suffocating eternities to Keith, but then Lance's expression eventually softens, and his lips melt into a small, grateful smile. 

"Sure. C'mon." Lance nods in the direction he was heading as a gesture for Keith to follow him, before he sets off down the hall. 

Keith lets out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in and trails close behind. 

When the two reach the observatory, Keith ponders as to why it was so neglected by the rest of those on board. The view from the vast room was breathtaking, the entire wall in front of them thick, air-tight glass, putting miles and miles of stars and planets on display. 

It was so clear, and it all looked so, so close. Keith finds himself reaching out to touch, tips of his nimble fingers dancing amongst the stars. His trance is interrupted when he hears Lance laugh, at him. 

"It's pretty great, huh? Seemed like I had it all to myself, 'till you came along." Lance shrugs his shoulders with a smile a fraction brighter than his last. He walks closer to the glass, and Keith follows until Lance comes to halt, and sits himself down. While he crosses his legs, Keith does the same, pulling his own to his chest. 

The two sit in a mutual silence, which Lance didn't mind, but, to Keith, it was nearly lethal. Silence to him meant that he was doing something wrong. That Lance would rather stare off and drown in the deafening nothingness than talk to him. So, he's the first to break the ice.

"Do you just... sit up here?" 

Keith cursed himself mentally. He was always one to speak before he actually put some thought into it; or, in Lance's words, he was one to, 'Shoot first, and ask questions later.' 

He worried his tone of voice would make Lance take offense to the question, but, as always, the blue paladin surprised him. Lance offered nothing but a sheepish grin, and another shrug of his shoulders.

"Well, yeah. It's kind of embarrassing what I do, really. It's also why I haven't really said anything so far." Lance replies, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck, fingers toying with the shorter strands of brunette hair.

"What do you do?" Keith's voice is laced with confusion when he presses further with a cock of a brow, and a slight tilt of his head. 

Lance gives his undivided attention to the view sprawled out in front of them. It was as if the galaxy was one elaborate scroll that they just couldn't pinpoint the ending to. 

"I talk to the stars." Lance admits quietly. 

Keith struggles for something to say in response, and he supposes he took too long in doing so, because the silence is cut by what sounded like a forced laugh.

"It's stupid, I know!" Lance interjects in his own defense. "But, I don't know, it helps me vent." 

Keith frowns. It was almost like Lance was expecting to be made fun of. The idea takes a piece of his heart with it, and he can't stand letting Lance believe that to be true.

He breaks down the wall between the two, crossing the barrier from verbal into physical comfort, and rests his hand on his shoulder. Keith moves a few inches closer to do this more comfortably, his grip firm, just firm enough to remind Lance that someone was there.

"It doesn't sound stupid at all." He's quick to reassure with his words and a slight, upwards pull to the corners of his lips. 

"The only downside is that the stars don't exactly talk back, do they?" Keith asks, his smile only growing for Lance, who graciously accepts the gesture.

"No, they don't." Lance answers, and the tender look on his face makes an unfamiliar feeling of warmth spread through Keith's chest.

"But, I talk anyway. I talk and talk for hours." Lance copies the action of closing the space between them, moving closer until they sit shoulder to shoulder. Keith retracts his hand, and lets it fall to the floor behind him.

"Then, go ahead." Keith's surprised by the soft, consoling tone of voice he's adapted, but he stands by his words nonetheless.

"Act like I'm not here."

Lance takes a deep breath. 

"I really miss my family." He begins simply, bluntly. "And, it sucks, because I don't really have anyone to talk to about it. I mean, everyone has a family. If I go and talk about mine, maybe it'll look like I'm selfish, and that's not what I want." Lance's gaze falls to the ground, and the twitching of his eyebrows and the quivering of his lower lip makes Keith feel a sorrow he didn't know he could feel before. 

"I already feel like a fifth wheel a lot of the time - well, seventh if you count Allura and Coran - so the last thing I need is to be hated right now, y'know?" Lance is motioning with his hands as he goes, having a genuine conversation with the burning orbs of light in front of them, as he told Keith he would. 

"I wish I could see everyone again. If I had known I was going to be a defender of the universe for so long, I-" The blue paladin's voice falls to a whisper. "I would've said goodbye first." 

Keith tenses when he finally sees Lance's glassy eyes. He never really knew how to handle a person when they were moved to the point of crying out what words couldn't express. Emotions were... horrifying. Even if that may be an immature thing for an eighteen year old to admit. 

"I would've went home before we tracked down the blue lion. Would've hugged everyone real tight and told them that I'd be gone for a while, 'cause now they just–" Lance's voice cracks, and the tears that had been threatening to spill from his eyes fall, down his cheeks. They collect at his chin, like raindrops down a window pane. 

"They probably just think I'm dead."

Keith watches as he wipes his tears away with the sleeves of his blue robe, a lump in his own throat and his hands hovering towards Lance. He wanted to do something, but he didn't know what right from wrong was in this scenario. He's never been put in this position before.

Keith wished he knew this feeling, so that he'd know how to help. He couldn't deny that he's always wanted a strong family bond. He wanted people connected to him to make his will burn brighter. His will to fight, his will to protect, and his will to do everything in his power to eliminate the forces of evil that plagued the universe. 

Lance had his family on Earth.

But, then again, Keith had the other paladins.

And the paladins were the best replacement Keith could have ever asked for. 

When Keith speaks again, he feels like he's finally ready to help, or at least, attempt to. "Can I tell you what I would say if I were the stars, Lance?"

Lance looks at Keith with wide eyes, and as he stares into those brilliant blue orbs, Keith remembers why he never misses the ocean. It was right in front of him.

"Go on, buddy." 

Keith draws his focus to the stars. "I'd tell you that your family is waiting." The words fall from his lips easily, like stray petals off of flower buds, just like back on Earth. 

"I'd tell you that even if they do think that you're..." He wants to tiptoe around the word- dead. "Gone," Keith opts for, continuing, "There's got to be a part inside of all of them that doesn't want to give up on you. I know I wouldn't give up on you."

"You'd hear from the stars that you're a valuable member of this team. We've sort've made a family dynamic around here, don't you think? The stars would say that Team Voltron will keep you safe, until they can return you to Earth. And that's a promise." 

Keith turns, and he expects to find Lance's face deep in concentration, to find that the streams running down his face had only gotten quicker and heavier – but he finds a warm grin instead. 

"If only the stars were as bright as you, Keith." 

Keith can feel his face heating up, and he prays to any and every otherworldly power watching over him that the way his face goes an embarrassing shade of red isn't too noticeable. His mouth opens and closes, as if he were a fish all of a sudden. Damn it, Kogane, say something back. 

"Not that kind of bright!" Lance suddenly blurts, hands waving frantically as he, too, flushes a rather bright color. "I mean smart-bright, you know? 'Cause you knew just what to say to make me feel better! Not saying that you're not the other kind of bright, because you–"

Lance's words slip away when he hears something that surprises him. It surprises Keith, too. Because for the first time in a long time, since Shiro had disappeared, since the position of the leader had been shoved onto his unsuspecting shoulders–

Keith laughed. 

Genuinely, warmly, a sort of laugh that made Lance's heart feel like it was melting. 

"Whatever you say, Lance. I'm just glad I could help." 

Keith isn't sure where the sudden burst of confidence comes from when he leans over to plant a soft kiss to Lance's cheek, but he's grateful to his heart for it. He rises to his feet, with that as his parting gesture, and turns to exit the observatory. 

He was trying hard, so, so hard to act nonchalant, when really? Butterflies and all sorts of jitters were in a frenzy inside of him. In his hands, in his chest, in his head. 

"We should meet the same time tomorrow." Keith offers, looking over his shoulder. "But, maybe you could tell me your favorite memories with your family. Happy stuff, you know?" As much as Keith was willing to listen to all of the things that plagued Lance's mind, he'd much rather see that beautiful smile of his, rather than see him in pain.

"Okay?" Keith calls back to Lance, ignoring the way his voice cracked - mind enveloped by what he had just done - and the way his hands shook as they held onto the door.

Lance hadn't moved since the kiss, with the exception of raising his hand to his cheek to let his fingertips rest where Keith's lips once were.

"Yeah!" Lance stutters hopelessly over the one word.

"Sounds like a plan!"

Lance's reply is a little too enthusiastic.  
Keith thinks it's adorable.

"Get some sleep soon. We need our sharpshooter rested up." 

The red paladin lets the door close behind him, and walks back to his room, the smile on his face growing every step of the way.

**Author's Note:**

> this is very short for a first work but here ya go!  
> this was actually written for a contest on voltron amino, in which the prompt was: "if only the stars were as bright as you." decided to take a little bit of a different spin on it.  
> anyway, hope you enjoyed! thank you for reading! <3


End file.
